Lowe charges Ogilvy duo swayed verdict at Abby show

<p>NEW DELHI: A war of words has erupted between Lowe Lintas and </p><p>Ogilvy & Mather, with India's top creatives hurling charges at each </p><p>other. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The row broke out after Lowe Lintas executive creative director R. </p><p>Balakrishnan charged that O&M's national creative director Piyush Pandey </p><p>and ad film maker Prasoon Pandey sabotaged his agency's chances of </p><p>winning big at the Bombay Ad Club Abby Awards. Balakrishnan alleged that </p><p>both men had described Lowe Lintas' campaign for indya.com as a copy of </p><p>the John Miller shirts. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Balakrishnan then pulled his agency out of the Abby Awards, the </p><p>country's most prestigious awards show. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Piyush countered: "I must be a rather influential man to sway the </p><p>opinions of 20 industry stalwarts." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The indya.com campaign won the coveted Campaign of the Year in the early </p><p>March Advertising Agencies Association of India show, which O&M stayed </p><p>away from. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In a letter to the Bombay club, Lowe Lintas demanded: "All current </p><p>judging should be set aside, new committees should be reconstituted and </p><p>a complete re-evaluation should be done." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, the club is standing its ground. "We explained to Lintas that </p><p>we had re-examined the judging process following the complaint, and had </p><p>found nothing unfair whatsoever," said Sumit Roy, a member of the club's </p><p>executive committee. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>